The 1966 Cleveland Indians season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the American League with a record of 81–81, 17 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. The 1966 season started off hopeful for the Cleveland Indians as they won their first ten games, and held a 27-10 record in late May. They would hold first place as late as June 12 but were out of first place after that and never returned to the top. A struggle in run production brought the Indians back to the .500 mark, as a seemingly promising season ended up being one of the most disappointing. The Indians are the only team to win the regular season series vs the World Series Winning 1966 Baltimore Orioles (who would sweep the Dodgers, while allowing only 2 runs the entire series).

1.
Cleveland Stadium
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Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium or Lakefront Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate baseball and football. Through most of its tenure as a facility, the stadium was the largest in Major League Baseball by seating capacity, seating over 78,000 initially. For football, the stadium seated approximately 80,000 people, former Browns owner Art Modell took over control of the stadium from the city in the 1970s and while his organization made improvements to the facility, it continued to decline. The Indians played their game at the stadium in October 1993. The Browns played their game at the stadium in December 1995. Cleveland Stadium was demolished in 1996 to make way for FirstEnergy Stadium, much of the debris from the demolition was placed in Lake Erie to create an artificial reef. The impetus for Cleveland Municipal Stadium came from city manager William R, another common misconception is that Cleveland Municipal Stadium was a Works Progress Administration project, in fact, the WPA was not created until 1935, four years after the stadium was built. In November 1928, Cleveland voters passed by 112,448 to 76,975, a 59% passage rate, with 55% needed to pass, actual construction costs overran that amount by $500,000. Built during the administrations of city managers William R. Hopkins and Daniel E. Morgan, it was designed by the firms of Walker and Weeks. It featured an early use of structural aluminum, the stadium was dedicated on July 1,1931. On July 3,1931, it hosted a match for the National Boxing Association World Heavyweight Championship between Max Schmeling and Young Stribling, with 37,000 fans in attendance. Schmeling retained his title by a technical knockout -victory in the 15th round, the Donald Gray Gardens were installed on the stadiums north side in 1936 as part of the Great Lakes Exposition. They remained until the construction of Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Indians played all of their games at the stadium from the middle of the 1932 season through 1933. However, the players and fans complained about the huge outfield, moreover, as the Great Depression worsened, attendance plummeted. The Indians returned to their previous home, League Park. In 1937, the Indians began playing Sunday and holiday games at Cleveland Stadium during the summer, adding selected important games there in 1938. League Park lacked field lighting, so the emergence of baseball in the 1930s led to the addition of night games to the schedule after lights were installed at the stadium in 1939

2.
Cleveland
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Cleveland is a city in the U. S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the states second most populous county. The city proper has a population of 388,072, making Cleveland the 51st largest city in the United States, Greater Cleveland ranked as the 32nd largest metropolitan area in the United States, with 2,055,612 people in 2016. The city is the center of the Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area, the city is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border. Clevelands economy has diversified sectors that include manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, Cleveland is also home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Residents of Cleveland are called Clevelanders, Cleveland has many nicknames, the oldest of which in contemporary use being The Forest City. Cleaveland oversaw the plan for what would become the downtown area, centered on Public Square, before returning home. The first settler in Cleaveland was Lorenzo Carter, who built a cabin on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, the Village of Cleaveland was incorporated on December 23,1814. In spite of the swampy lowlands and harsh winters, its waterfront location proved to be an advantage. The area began rapid growth after the 1832 completion of the Ohio, growth continued with added railroad links. Cleveland incorporated as a city in 1836, in 1836, the city, then located only on the eastern banks of the Cuyahoga River, nearly erupted into open warfare with neighboring Ohio City over a bridge connecting the two. Ohio City remained an independent municipality until its annexation by Cleveland in 1854, the citys prime geographic location as a transportation hub on the Great Lakes has played an important role in its development as a commercial center. Cleveland serves as a point for iron ore shipped from Minnesota. In 1870, John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in Cleveland, other manufacturers located in Cleveland produced steam-powered cars, which included White and Gaeth, as well as the electric car company Baker. Because of the significant growth, Cleveland was known as the Sixth City during this period, by 1920, due in large part to the citys economic prosperity, Cleveland became the nations fifth largest city. The city counted Progressive Era politicians such as the populist Mayor Tom L. Johnson among its leaders, many prominent Clevelanders from this era are buried in the historic Lake View Cemetery, including President James A. Garfield, and John D. Rockefeller. In commemoration of the centennial of Clevelands incorporation as a city, conceived as a way to energize a city after the Great Depression, it drew four million visitors in its first season, and seven million by the end of its second and final season in September 1937. The exposition was housed on grounds that are now used by the Great Lakes Science Center, following World War II, the city experienced a prosperous economy. In sports, the Indians won the 1948 World Series, the hockey Barons became champions of the American Hockey League, as a result, along with track and boxing champions produced, Cleveland was dubbed City of Champions in sports at this time

3.
Cleveland Indians
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The Cleveland Indians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Indians compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League Central division. Since 1994, they have played at Progressive Field, the teams spring training facility is at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. The Indians current World Series championship drought is the longest active drought, the name Indians originated from a request by club owner Charles Somers to baseball writers to choose a new name to replace Cleveland Naps following the departure of Nap Lajoie after the 1914 season. The name referenced the nickname Indians that was applied to the Cleveland Spiders baseball club during the time when Louis Sockalexis, common nicknames for the Indians include the Tribe and the Wahoos, the latter being a reference to their logo, Chief Wahoo, a controversial Native American caricature. The teams mascot is named Slider, the franchise originated in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1894 as the Grand Rapids Rustlers, a minor league team in the Western League. The team moved to Cleveland in 1900 and changed its name to the Cleveland Lake Shores, one of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the major league incarnation of the club was founded in Cleveland in 1901. Originally called the Cleveland Bluebirds, the played in League Park until moving permanently to Cleveland Stadium in 1946. At the end of the 2016 season, they had a regular season record of 9. In 1857 baseball games were a spectacle in Clevelands Public Squares. City authorities tried to find an ordinance forbidding it, to the joy of the crowd, – Harold Seymour 1865–1868 Forest Citys of Cleveland 1869–1872 Forest Citys of Cleveland From 1865 to 1868 Forest Citys was an amateur ball club. During the 1869 season, Cleveland was among several cities which established professional baseball teams following the success of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional team. In the newspapers before and after 1870, the team was called the Forest Citys. In 1871 the Forest Citys joined the new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, ultimately, two of the leagues western clubs went out of business during the first season and the Chicago Fire left that citys White Stockings impoverished, unable to field a team again until 1874. Cleveland was thus the NAs westernmost outpost in 1872, the year the club folded, Cleveland played their full schedule to July 19 followed by two games versus Boston in mid-August and disbanded at the end of the season. 1879–1881 Cleveland Forest Citys 1882–1884 Cleveland Blues In 1876, the National League supplanted the NA as the professional league. Cleveland were not among its members, but by 1879 the league was looking for new entries. The Cleveland Forest Citys baseball team was then re-created, the National League required distinct colors for the 1882 season, so the Cleveland Forest Citys became the Cleveland Blues

4.
Baseball
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases, Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates turns batting. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the team, constitutes an inning. A game is composed of nine innings, and the team with the number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball has no clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century and this game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, in the United States and Canada, professional Major League Baseball teams are divided into the National League and American League, each with three divisions, East, West, and Central. The major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series, the top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision, a French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as thèque, la balle au bâton, consensus once held that todays baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland. Baseball Before We Knew It, A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block, suggests that the game originated in England, recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of other. It has long believed that cricket also descended from such games. The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, David Block discovered that the first recorded game of Bass-Ball took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player. William Bray, an English lawyer, recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford and this early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants

5.
New York Mets
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The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League East division. The Mets are one of two Major League clubs based in New York City, the other is the New York Yankees. One of baseballs first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New Yorks departed NL teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. The Mets colors are composed of the Dodgers blue and the Giants orange, during the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played their home games at the Polo Grounds. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets home ballpark was Shea Stadium, in 2009, they moved into their current ballpark, Citi Field. In their 1962 inaugural season, the Mets posted a record of 40–120, the Mets made the playoffs in 2006 when they came within one game of the World Series, losing to the eventual champion St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. The Mets missed the playoffs with losses on the last day of the season in 2007 and 2008. The Mets made the playoffs in 2015 for the first time in nine years, the team again returned to the playoffs in 2016, this time with a wild card berth. This is the teams second playoff appearance, the first occurring during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. With the threat of a New York team joining a new third league, for the first two years of its existence, the team played its home games at the historic Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. In 1964, they moved into newly constructed Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, in 2009, the club moved into Citi Field, adjacent to the former Shea Stadium site. During their history, the Mets have won two World Series titles, five National League pennants and six National League East titles, the Mets also qualified for the postseason as the National League wild card team in 1999,2000, and 2016. The Mets have appeared in five World Series, more than any other team in MLB history. Their two championships are the most titles among expansion teams, equal to the tallies of the Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins, the Mets held the New York baseball single-season attendance record for 29 years. They broke the Yankees 1948 record by drawing nearly 2.7 million spectators in 1970, the Mets broke their own record five times before the record was regained by the Yankees in 1999. The 1962 Mets posted a 40–120 record, a record for the most losses in a season since 1899, in 1966, the Mets famously bypassed future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the amateur draft, instead selecting Steve Chilcott, who never played in the majors. But the following year, they acquired future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in a lottery, in 1973, the Mets rallied from 5th place to win the division, despite a record of only 82–79

6.
Baltimore Orioles
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The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball as a member of the American League East division, Louis, Missouri to become the St. Louis Browns. After 52 often-beleaguered years in St. Louis, the franchise was purchased in November 1953 by Baltimore business interests led by Clarence Miles, the franchise officially moved to Baltimore for the 1954 season and adopted the historic Orioles name in honor of the official state bird of Maryland. The Orioles name had also used by several previous major and minor league baseball clubs in Baltimore. Nicknames for the team include the Os and the Birds, the Orioles experienced their greatest success from 1966 to 1983, when they made six World Series appearances, winning three of them. The franchise has won a total of nine division championships, six pennants. The Orioles are also known for their successful stadium, the trend-setting Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The modern Orioles franchise can trace its roots back to the original Milwaukee Brewers of the minor Western League, the Brewers were there when the WL renamed itself the American League in 1900. At the end of the 1900 season, the American League removed itself from baseballs National Agreement, two months later, the AL declared itself a competing major league. As a result of several shifts, the Brewers were one of only two Western League teams that didnt fold, move or get kicked out of the league. In its first game in the American League, the team lost to the Detroit Tigers 14–13 after blowing a lead in the 9th inning. To this day, it is a league record for the biggest deficit overcome that late in the game. During the first American League season in 1901, they finished last with a record of 48–89 and its lone Major League season, the team played at Lloyd Street Grounds, between 16th and 18th Streets in Milwaukee. The Miles-Krieger -Hoffberger group renamed their new team the Baltimore Orioles soon after taking control of the franchise, the name has a rich history in Baltimore, having been used by a National League team in the 1890s. In 1901, Baltimore and McGraw were awarded a franchise in the growing American League. After a battle with Ban Johnson, the Head of the American League in 1902, McGraw took many of the top players including Dan McGann, Roger Bresnahan and Joe McGinnity to the New York Giants. As an affront to Johnson, McGraw kept the black and orange colors of the New York Giants, which San Francisco wears to this day. In 1903, the rest of the team was transferred to New York where they were nicknamed the Highlanders until circa 1912, as a member of the high-minor league level International League, the Orioles competed at what is now known as the AAA level from 1903 to 1953

7.
WJW (TV)
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WJW, channel 8, is a Fox-affiliated television station located in and licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Subchannel 8.2 serves as the affiliate for the classic TV network Antenna TV. The station is owned by the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of Tribune Media and its studios are located on Dick Goddard Way just northeast of downtown Cleveland near the shore of Lake Erie, and its transmitter is located in suburban Parma, Ohio. The television station launched on December 19,1949 on channel 9 as WXEL, owned by the Empire Coil Company, in its early years, WXEL was a primary DuMont affiliate, and later became a secondary provider of ABC programs, sharing that affiliation with WEWS. WXEL also carried a number of CBS programs that WEWS declined to air, some of the daytime shows originated at Cinecraft on Franklin. WXEL also carried an affiliation with the short-lived Paramount Television Network, the station aired such Paramount Network programs as Hollywood Wrestling, Bandstand Revue, and Time For Beany. During the late 1950s, the station was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. Following the 1952 release of the Federal Communications Commission s Sixth Report and Order and its former channel 9 allocation was moved to Steubenville and given to a new station, WSTV-TV, the switch took place only two weeks before WSTV-TV went on the air. In 1954 Empire Coil sold two of its television interests—WXEL and KPTV in Portland, Oregon, the United States first UHF station—to Storer Broadcasting. Storer, the founder and president, was a member of the board of directors of CBS. Storer changed channel 8s call letters to WJW-TV on April 15,1956, to complement Cleveland sister stations WJW and WJW-FM —now radio stations WKNR and WQAL, all three stations later moved to the former Esquire Theater building at 1630 Euclid Avenue, near Playhouse Square. A young Alan Freed, previously at WAKR radio in Akron, Soupy Sales, then known as Soupy Hines, had a weekday variety program called Soups On where he started his pie-in-the-face routines. The station also broadcast a popular and unique 11,00 p. m, in 1961, WJW-TV became the broadcast rights holder of the Cleveland Indians. Channel 8s partnership with the team continued through 1979, when the Indians moved to then-independent station WUAB, WJW also carried Indians games that were part of the CBS, and later, Fox network packages of Major League Baseball games. The main bargaining point was Storers attempt to institute a new, on November 20, WJW-TV broadcast a taped panel segment that offered the striking performers the opportunity to state its case, since management had presented its side two nights earlier. After nearly reaching agreement on November 23 before talks collapsed, the two finally came to an agreement on November 27. In September 1963, WJW-TV was one of the first stations to use a news anchor team, Joel Daly and Doug Adair. The newscast was called City Camera News, and reporters were equipped with Polaroid cameras to photograph news events, station programming also featured Adventure Road hosted by Jim Doney, which presented filmed travelogues narrated by the filmmakers

8.
History of the Oakland Athletics
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In 1954, Chicago real estate magnate Arnold Johnson bought the Philadelphia Athletics and moved them to Kansas City. Although he was initially a hero for making Kansas City a major-league town, hed also bought Blues Stadium in Kansas City, home of the Yankees top farm team, the Kansas City Blues of the American Association. After Johnson got permission to move the As to Kansas City, he sold Blues Stadium to the city, the lease gave Johnson a three-year escape clause if the team failed to draw one million or more customers per season. The subsequent lease signed in 1960 also contained a clause if the team failed to draw 850,000 per season. Major-league rules of the time gave the Yankees the major-league rights to Kansas City, however, the Yankees waived these payments as soon as the purchase was approved. This, combined with the Yankees thinly concealed support for the sale, rumors abounded that Johnsons real motive was to operate the Athletics in Kansas City for a few years, then move the team to Los Angeles. Whatever the concern about the move to Kansas City, fans turned out in numbers for the era. That number would never be approached again while the team was in Kansas City, Johnsons previous business ties to the Yankees resulted in several trades between the Athletics and the Bronx Bombers that helped keep the New York dynasty afloat. Invariably, any good young As player was traded to the Yankees for aging veterans, however, with few exceptions, the trades were heavily weighted in favor of the Yankees. On the positive side, Johnson devoted attention to development for the first time in the history of the franchise. Previously, Connie Mack either did not or could not spend any money building a farm system, when Johnson bought the team, the As only had three scouts in the entire organization. Johnson did make some improvements to the system, but was unwilling to pay top dollar for players that could get the As within sight of contention. Johnson was returning from watching the Athletics in spring training when he was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage. He died in West Palm Beach, Florida on March 3,1960 at the age of 53, on December 19,1960, Charles Charlie O. Finley purchased a controlling interest in the team from Johnsons estate after losing out to Johnson six years earlier in Philadelphia. He bought out the minority owners a year later, Finley promised the fans a new day. In a highly publicized move, he purchased a bus, pointed it in the direction of New York and he called another press conference to burn the existing lease at Municipal Stadium which included the despised escape clause. He spent over $400,000 of his own money in stadium improvements and he introduced new uniforms which had Kansas City on the road uniforms for the first time ever and an interlocking KC on the cap. This was the first time the franchise had acknowledged its home city on its uniforms and he announced, My intentions are to keep the As permanently in Kansas City and build a winning ball club

9.
New York Yankees
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The Essendon Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League, the sports premier competition. Formed in 1871 as a club and playing as a senior club since 1878. It is historically associated with Essendon, a suburb in the north-west of Melbourne, dyson Heppell is the current team captain. A founding member club of both the Victorian Football Association, in 1877, and the Victorian Football League, in 1896, the club claims to have over at least one million supporters Australia wide. Essendon has won 16 VFL/AFL premierships which, along with Carlton, is the most of any club in the competition, the club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers. The Essendon Football Club is thought to have formed in 1872 at a meeting it the home of a well-known brewery family, the McCrackens, whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players. Robert McCracken, the owner of several city hotels, was the founder and first president of the Essendon club and his son, Alex, Alex would later become president of the newly formed VFL. Alexs cousin, Collier, who had played with Melbourne, was the teams first captain. The club played its first recorded match against the Carlton second twenty on 7 June 1873, Essendon played 13 matches in its first season, winning seven, with four draws and losing two. The club was one of the junior members of the Victorian Football Association in 1877. During its early years in the Association, Essendon played its matches at Flemington Hill. In 1878, Essendon played in the first match on what would be considered by modern standards to be a field at Flemington Hill. In 1879 Essendon played Melbourne in one of the earliest night matches recorded when the ball was painted white, in 1883 the team played four matches in Adelaide. In 1891 Essendon won their first VFA premiership, which they repeated in 1892,1893 and 1894, one of the clubs greatest players, Albert Thurgood played for the club during this period. Essendon was undefeated in the 1893 season, at the end of the 1896 season Essendon along with seven other clubs formed the Victorian Football League. Essendons first VFL game was in 1897 was against Geelong at Corio Oval in Geelong, Essendon won its first VFL premiership by winning the 1897 VFL finals series. Essendon again won the premiership in 1901, defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final, the club won successive premierships in 1911 and 1912 over Collingwood and South Melbourne respectively. The nickname first appeared in print in the local North Melbourne Advertiser in 1889 and it was known firstly as Essendon Town and, after 1905, as Essendon

10.
Lou Piniella
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Louis Victor Piniella is a former professional baseball player and manager. An outfielder in the leagues, he played sixteen seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals. During his playing career, he was named AL Rookie of the Year in 1969, following his playing career, Piniella became a manager for the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Chicago Cubs. He won the 1990 World Series championship with the Reds and led the Mariners to four appearances in seven years. He also captured back-to-back division titles during his time with the Cubs, Piniella was named Manager of the Year three times during his career and finished his managerial career ranked 14th all-time on the list of managerial wins. He was nicknamed Sweet Lou, both for his swing as a major league hitter and, facetiously, to describe his demeanor as a player and manager, born in Tampa, Florida, Piniellas parents were of Asturian descent, from northwest Spain. He grew up in West Tampa, and played American Legion baseball, Piniella attended Jesuit High School in Tampa, where he was an All-American in basketball. After graduation in 1961, he attended the University of Tampa for a year, Piniella was signed by the Cleveland Indians at age 18 as an amateur free agent on June 9,1962. That fall, he was drafted by the Washington Senators from the Indians in the 1962 first year draft. Prior to the 1966 season, he was traded by the Orioles back to the Indians for Cam Carreon, and made his second major league appearance in September 1968 at age 24 with the Indians. Piniella was selected by the Seattle Pilots in the 1968 expansion draft in October and he was prominently mentioned in Jim Boutons classic book about the Seattle Pilots, Ball Four. Piniella played for the Royals for their first five seasons,1969 through 1973 and he was the first batter in Royals history, on April 8 of their first season in 1969, he led off the bottom of the first inning against left-hander Tom Hall of the Minnesota Twins. Piniella doubled to left field, then scored on an RBI single by Jerry Adair, after the 1973 season, Piniella was traded by the Royals with Ken Wright to the New York Yankees for Lindy McDaniel. He played with the Yankees for 11 seasons, during which the Yankees won five AL East titles, four AL pennants, in 1975, he missed part of the year with an inner ear infection. From mid-1977 through the end of 1980, he was the Yankees regular outfielder/DH, in his career, Piniella made one All-Star team and compiled 1705 lifetime hits despite not playing full-time for just under half of his career. He received 2 votes for the Hall of Fame as a player in 1990, after retiring as a player, Piniella joined the Yankees coaching staff as the hitting coach. He managed the Yankees from 1986 to 1987, Piniella was promoted to general manager to start the 1988 season and took over as manager after the firing of Billy Martin on June 23. Piniella managed the Seattle Mariners for ten seasons, from 1993 through 2002 and his wife, Anita, initially insisted he not take the position

11.
American League
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The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League, is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a league based in the Great Lakes states. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season,25 years after the formation of the National League. At the end of season, the American League champion plays in the World Series against the National League champion. Through 2016, American League teams have won 64 of the 112 World Series played since 1903, the 2016 American League champions are the Cleveland Indians. The New York Yankees have won 40 American League titles, the most in the history, followed by the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics. Originally a minor league known as the Western League, the American League later developed into a major league after the American Association disbanded, in its early history, the Western League struggled until 1894, when Ban Johnson became the president of the league. Johnson led the Western League into major league status and soon became the president of the newly renamed American League, babe Ruth, noted as one of the most prolific hitters in Major League Baseball history, spent the majority of his career in the American League. The American League has one notable difference versus the National League, in 1902, the Milwaukee Brewers moved to St. Louis and were renamed the St. Louis Browns. In 1902, The Cleveland Bluebirds were also renamed the Cleveland Broncos, in 1903, the Broncos were renamed the Cleveland Naps. In 1915, the Naps were renamed the Cleveland Indians, in 1903, the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York and were renamed the New York Highlanders. In 1913, the Highlanders were renamed the New York Yankees, in 1904, the Chicago White Stockings were renamed the Chicago White Sox. In 1908, the Boston Americans were renamed the Boston Red Sox, in 1954, the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and were renamed as the Baltimore Orioles. In 1955, the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City and were renamed as the Kansas City Athletics, in 1961, the league expanded and added two teams as the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators, expanding the league to 10 teams. The original Senators team moved to Minneapolis/St, Paul in 1961 and were renamed as the Minnesota Twins. The Angels team name changed to the California Angels in 1966, then to the Anaheim Angels in 1997, the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots were added to the American League, expanding the league to 12 teams. In 1970, the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee and were renamed the Milwaukee Brewers, in 1972, the Washington Senators relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area and were renamed the Texas Rangers. In 1977, the league expanded to fourteen teams, when the Seattle Mariners, in 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays was added to the American League and at the same time, the Milwaukee Brewers were switched to the National League, leaving the American League with 14 teams

12.
Birdie Tebbetts
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George Robert Birdie Tebbetts was an American professional baseball player, manager, scout and front office executive. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, tebbets was regarded as the best catcher in the American League in the late 1940s. Although he lacked speed and didnt hit for power, Tebbetts was a defensive catcher. These traits served him later in his career, as he became the manager for the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves. His major league career encompassed 14 years as a catcher,11 as a manager and 28 as a scout, Tebbetts was born in Burlington, Vermont, but his family moved to Nashua, New Hampshire a few months after he was born. Shortly thereafter, his father died, leaving his mother to raise the family, Tebbetts was a star athlete at Nashua High School where he attained All-State status as a football quarterback and as a baseball catcher. He signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers after they agreed to pay his college tuition and he attended Providence College where he became an All-American in baseball before graduating with a degree in philosophy in 1934. The Tigers purchased future Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane from the Philadelphia Athletics in December 1933 and he spent the next three seasons playing in the minor leagues before making his MLB debut with the Tigers on September 16,1936 at the age of 23. In the 1937 season, Cochranes playing career came to an end when he was hit by a pitch and suffered a fractured skull. Rudy York replaced Cochrane as the Tigers catcher, but his skills were so poor that by the 1939 season. He ended the season with a.261 batting average and led American League catchers in assists, in 1940, York was converted into a first baseman, leaving Tebbetts in sole possession of the catchers position. He responded by posting a.296 batting average, as the Tigers defeated the Cleveland Indians, Tebbetts was held hitless in the 1940 World Series as the Tigers lost to the Cincinnati Reds in a seven-game series. He once again led AL catchers in assists and in caught stealing. In September, Tebbetts had been charged with assault and battery during a game in Cleveland when a basket of tomatoes was dropped on him by a Cleveland fan, as police held the fan, Tebbetts rushed up and struck him. He developed a reputation for antagonizing opposing players, constantly hectoring them in an effort to have them make mistakes, in 1941, Tebbetts was hitting for a.296 average by mid-season and earned a place as a reserve player for the American League in the 1941 All-Star Game. He led American League catchers in assists for a consecutive year. Tebbetts was named the catcher for the American League in the 1942 All-Star Game. Despite holding a 3-A draft classification because his mothers dependency, Tebbetts applied for an Army Air Corps commission and he joined the military services in August 1942 and was assigned to recruiting duties in Waco, Texas during the Second World War